Destiel Advent 2012
by Marie de Sade
Summary: Collection of Destiel fics for advent 2012. Mostly fluff, some agnst, some humour. Ratings will vary. My computer is finally working so I can finally finish this! Better late then never.
1. 24

"How long are we going to just sit here?" Castiel asked.

"I don't know, depends how long it takes for Sam to get inside." Dean twisted the binoculars to focus the lenses but found no sign of his brother.

"I'm cold," Castiel muttered next to him and Dean let out a sigh, his breath coming out in foggy puffs.

"I know its freezing."

"Can we turn on the car?" Castiel reached for the ignition but Dean slapped his hand away.

"No, we can't draw any attention to ourselves." They go back to sitting quickly, Dean stared out the house down the street through his binoculars and Castiel flexed his fingers in a poor attempt to keep the blood circulating through them. One of the lights in the house flicked on in the house but Dean couldn't tell if it was Sam or the witch in the living room.

"I've never been cold before." Dean looked away from the house and over to Castiel who was studying the frost that had formed on the window. Sometimes Dean forgets that Castiel wasn't an angel anymore, that there are still things he doesn't really understand. This is his first winter being human and everyone else in the world is getting ready for Christmas while Castiel was just trying to figure out why his fingers kept going numb.

Dean reached back and rifled around in the back seat till he found a threadbare blanket. "Come here."

Castiel slid down the seat over to Dean, not looking completely trusting of the hunter who was suddenly paying attention to him. Dean gathered Castiel's hands in his, they were stiff and icy, definitely colder than he expected. He ran his thumb over Castiel's knuckles and breathed hot breath over the frozen skin. "Is that better?"

"Yes," Castiel nodded, "thank you."

"Sam might be awhile. Why don't you try to catch a few z's while we wait?" Dean pulled Castiel down, pushing his head down against Dean's shoulder and wrapped an arm around him. Castiel seemed a little unsure but when Dean put the blanket over his shoulder Castiel curled up next to Dean trying to stay warm.

"I want to help," Castiel said trying to suppress a yawn.

"You will," Dean assured him. "But there's no point both of us trying to keep watch if we only have one binocular. I'll wake you up in a bit so we cans switch."

Castiel nodded silently and pulled the blanket tighter around himself. When Dean felt Castiel's breathing turn slow and even he grabbed the binoculars again, he rubbed his hand up and down Castiel's spine. He was glad that at least they didn't have to worry about freezing to death while they waited for Sam.


	2. 23

"Dean…" Sam trails off.

"He's coming okay?" Dean snaps. Sam looks at him doubtfully and Dean feels his insides twist form a mix of anger and worry. "Dad said he'd back before Christmas."

Sam glances over at the clock, it's four hours till midnight and Dean's little brother has given up that Dad will keep his promise. Dean's jaw clenches because he's so sick of Sam's downcast expression and the way he keeps looking at Dean with eyes full of pity. Dean stands up and grabs his jacket, shoving his feet into his boots and taking out his keys. "I'm going out."

"When will you be home?" Dean slams the door behind him without answering Sam. He trudges through the snow and taps his boots against the Impala's tires to dislodge the sludge before climbing inside. Sam's watching him through the living room window but Dean doesn't look up, just shoves his keys into the ignition and peels out of the driveway.

He drives faster than he should have on icy roads, he plows through one red light on his way to a liquor store that doesn't care that his ID is fake. The parking lot is empty when Dean pulls in and only one person is working in the whole store. Dean grabs two bottles of Jack and some shitty low-quality tequila, it's too much for just him but he figures if his dad comes home he'll drink whatever is left over. Dean scoffs and mentally corrects himself, _when_ his dad comes home. John might not be the perfect dad but he's not going to leave his kids alone on Christmas.

The cashier looks at Dean with a frown as he scans the bottles and places them in the bag, Dean would have told him to fuck off if he didn't think it would cost him his alcohol. He pays and heads back to the car, dropping two of the bottles in the back seat and keeping one balanced on his knee. He seriously considers finishing the bottle right there in the parking lot and when he's too wasted to drive he'll call his dad to come get him. And John won't pick up his cell because he's at home with Sammy, so Dean will call the house phone and John will cuss him out and tell him to wait for him to come pick him up. Dean will probably get yelled at the whole way home, he'll get grounded and John will have to stay home for an entire month just to make sure Dean doesn't drive or watch TV.

"Fuck," Dean curses and throws the bottle into the back with the others. He should go home, the guilt of leaving Sammy all alone on Christmas eve is already starting to gnaw at him but he can't bear the thought of going home and not seeing his dads truck in the driveway. So instead he just sits in his slowly freezing car, grips the steering wheel and tries to convince himself it's time to man up.

When he starts to loose feeling his fingers he decides he can't put off going home any longer and turns the car back on. By the time he's a block away he can tell that the driveway is empty and was close to turning around when he sees light flash in his living room window. He parks his car while he stares blankly at the red and green Christmas lights that are pinned around the window. Dean hesitates when he reaches the front door, because they've never _ever_ decorated for Christmas before, but he swallows down his doubt and walks inside.

Sam is sitting on the floor by their crappy tree and wrapping a brown box in genuine wrapping paper, it's green and shiny and a million times better than the newspaper they usually use. He has a floppy Santa hat on his head and when he looks up at Dean he smiles is so big Dean's worry it might split his cheeks open.

"Dean, look," Sam stretches his arm out and motions around the room, "it's Christmas!"

Dean looks around, there are stocking hung up by their fake electric fireplace, the tree has ornaments on it and a rainbow of tiny lights illuminate the room. "Where'd all this stuff come from?"

"Hello Dean." Dean turns around and find Castiel behind him, holding a large box with tinsel spilling over the sides. "I'm glad you came back."

"Cas? What are you doing here?"

"Sam called me," Castiel gives Sam a faint smile. "He said you might need some help decorating."

"Your mom is going to freak if she finds out you stole her decorations." Castiel's mother was one of those Christmas freaks who spent thousands of dollars on the holiday. A life sized nativity scene in the front yard and enough lights wrapped around her house that her electricity bill was higher than some small countries.

"She won't notice a few boxes." Castiel hands Dean the box before he turns away and walks back into the kitchen.

"Do you want to help me decorate the left side of the tree?" Sam asks, placing the now wrapped gift under the tree. "I can't quite reach the top part, it looks a little empty."

Dean nods mutely and sets the box down carefully on the floor. Sam does most of the decorating , Dean picks up a few ornaments and places them by the top of tree. He's still trying to wrap his mind around how great the place looks after just a few hours. "That looks nice."

Castiel walks into the living room with plate full of cookies and looks appraisingly at the decorated tree. Sam smiles, "yeah. I think this is the best this place has ever looked."

"Who are those for?" Dean asks pointing to the plate.

"I'm not very good at making pies," Castiel holds the plate out for Dean and Sam, "I hope you don't mind having sugar cookies instead."

"I love sugar cookies!" Sam declares cheerfully.

Dean's a bit more hesitant, he reaches for a cookie but his hand pauses above the plate. "You should be spending tonight with your family, Cas."

"I am," Castiel assures him and smiles warmly. Dean isn't sure if that makes him happy or sad.

Castiel sets the plate down on the coffee table and helps them decorate with what's left in the box. Sam pulls out a big gold star made out of wire and rhinestones. "Cas, why don't you put the star on?"

"I would love to." Castiel takes the star and pulls a stool up next to the tree. It's a bit of a reach for him even standing on the chair and both Dean and Sam laugh a little at his feeble attempts to top the tree.

Castiel finally manages to stick the star on the tip of the tree but nearly immediately he loses his footing and slides off the chair. Dean reaches out and catches Castiel just in time to keep him from knocking down the tree. Dean has one arm wrapped Castiel's waist and the other is placed under his knees, Castiel throws and arm over Dean's shoulder to try and settle himself, eyes still wide in surprise.

"You should be more careful," Dean jokingly scolds him. Castiel rolls his eyes and tries to wiggle out of Dean's hold but Dean doesn't let him go. He smiles at the star that gleams against the bright lights below it and then at the rest of the room. "You forgot something you know."

"What?" Castiel scoffs. "I did not."

"Yeah you did, you forgot the mistletoe."

"Do you need a reason to kiss me?" Castiel asks stretching up towards Dean.

"No, I guess not," Dean smiles and leans down to rest his forehead against Castiel's. "So did it hurt?"

"Did what hurt?" Castiel's brow furrows in confusion and Dean can't help laughing a little.

"When you fell from heaven?"

"A little," he breathes right before he closes the small distance between them. Castiel's lips are dry and chapped but they're warm and taste like sugar cookies. It awkward to hold Castiel like that and kiss him at the same time but Dean someone manages. He runs his tongues over Castiel's bottom lip and Castiel opens up for him, hand reaching up to cup the back of Dean's neck and pull him closer.

"Gross guys, I'm still in the room," Sam complains before running over to the kitchen to get more cookies.


	3. 22

"But I am not tired."

"I know you're not," Dean said, peeling off his shirt and toeing off his shoes.

"I don't understand why you insist on the two of us lying in bed then." Dean lifted up the covers and slid into its warmth. Castiel stood next to the bed and looked suspiciously down at Dean but grudgingly he removed his coat at let it crumble on the ground. "It's too early for bed."

"Will you stop bitching and just take your clothes off?"

Castiel loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt so slowly that Dean was close to just lean over and yank the short open. Castiel finally crawled in next to Dean and gently pressed his lips against Deans. "Are you attempting to entice me to have sex?"

Dean grumbled and wrapped an arm around Castiel's waist. "No, no sex tonight."

"Oh." Dean gently pushed on Castiel's shoulders till he shifted down on the bed and tucked his head beneath Dean's chin. "Then why are what are we doing?"

"We're sleeping," Dean yawned and tightened his hold on Castiel. "And I'd like to be passed out when Sam gets here so I don't have to listen to him go 'aw' and get all teary eyed."

"I told you I wasn't tired," Castiel told him but Dean could hear the strain in his voice.

"Hm," Dean hummed. He tangled his fingers in Castiel's messy hair and kissed his forehead. "No more of this staying up till you pass out. Your New Year's resolution is to get at least four hours every night."

"If I were tired I would go to sleep," Castiel scoffed. Castiel wasn't as useless as a human as Dean had thought he would be. He'd been watching humanity long enough that he had known most of the basics. He could hunt with them, or stay behind at the motel without the world ending. Unfortunately there were a few things he still had trouble with, he couldn't always tell the difference between nausea and hunger, he freaked out every time one of his legs fell asleep and never waited for his coffee to cool off so he burnt his tongue every time. Worst of all was that he hadn't gotten the hang of sleeping yet. Dean wasn't sure if Castiel couldn't tell when he was tired or if he just had trouble lying still long enough to fall asleep. Maybe he was just afraid he'd miss something while he was asleep.

"I'd like the company," Dean mumbled into Castiel's hair. Castiel wiggled against him and it made it really difficult to keep his promise that tonight was only about catching a Z's. "Stop struggling."

"Your feet are cold," Castiel complained.

"Are they?" Dean stuck his foot between Castiel's legs and the former angel huffed in annoyance. "'m sorry, you're just so warm."

"That is _not_ helping," Castiel said but Dean can see his eyelids begin to droop. Dean chuckled and pulled the covers high up so they rested just under Castiel's nose. Despite his whining Castiel drifted off to sleep before Dean did and he sleeps long after the Winchester's awoke the next morning. He only managed to pull himself out of bed after Dean crawled back in and rubbed his still cold feet up and down his calves.


	4. 21

**Warning for (accidental) cross dressing**

When Sam had silently prayed for the snow to disappear he hadn't been expecting the torrential rain that came down. The rain hit when Sam and Castiel were walking back to the motel, the only cover they had were some books and papers they'd photocopied at the library. They rush back to the motel but by the time they got there they were soaked to the bone and their papers had turned to mush in Castiel's hand. Sam peeled off his wet jacket while he grumbled that all the info they had on their ghost was now ruined. Castiel tossed Sam his bag and picked up the duffel he shared with Dean, they both stripped till they were only left in their jeans before they started riffling around for dry clothes.

Castiel picked out an outfit that was half Dean clothes and half the ill-fitting items he had bought last week. He bent over to untie his boots and when he did his jeans slipped low of hips, Sam caught a flash of white skin before Castiel bent down a little more and revealed red silk and green lace.

"Cas, is that…lace?"

Castiel stood up straight, his hands laid out on his lower back and he pulled his jeans up. "My apologises. Dean was right I should have tried the clothes on before I bought them."

Castiel went back to digging through the duffel bag while Sam stood gapping on at him. "You're wearing lacy panties?"

"Yes," Castiel told him, his brow creased in confusion. "Why, would you like a pair?"

Castiel held out a hand and, his fist uncurled to reveal another pair of panties, this one black with pink stripes and lace. "No I- Cas, why are you wearing women's panties?"

Castiel head tilted to the side, then something must have clicked in his head because a soft blush burned onto his cheeks. "I was informed that these were unisex underwear."

"By who?" Sam asked, though he knew the answer before he even finished his sentence. "How did Dean convince you to buy those?"

"He told me if I bought boxers or briefs they would get mixed up with yours…" Castiel trailed off probably suddenly realizing how ridiculous the statement sounded.

"Ug, I did not need to know Dean had a panty fetish." Castiel promptly grabbed a pair of Dean's boxers and stomped off to the bathroom to change. Sam turned the television on and tried to wipe the last ten minutes from his mind. When Dean walked in through the door, he was greeted with a dozen panties being thrown into his face. Dean, to his credit, did try and look apologetic but neither Sam nor Castiel bought it for one second. When they began to argue, Sam grabbed his wallet and headed out because he knew that the only reason Dean and Castiel ever fought was for the make-up sex and frankly Sam had already been scarred enough for one day.


	5. 20

Jimmy has no idea how Castiel had convinced him to sleep over at Gabriel's house, ever since their older brother moved out he's been living a 24/7 party life. He didn't last four hours before he snuck out, not that Gabriel was going to bother trying to stop him when he was busy pouring liquid chocolate on some red-head. Jimmy doesn't even bother looking for his hat and mittens because he's worried that if he stays any longer he would end up seeing more of Gabriel then he ever wanted to see.

By the time Jimmy walks home his cheeks are bright red and his fingers are numb. There's a black car in the drive way, which means Dean's over, Jimmy's surprised that Dean would let his car sit out in the snow. The living room is empty when Jimmy walks in, Dean and Castiel are probably in the basement getting drunk and watching some stupid movie. Jimmy just wants to crawl into his warm bed and sleep in for the first time since school started.

"Fuck, Cas, s'good baby." Jimmy freezes with his hand on his bedroom doorknob.

"Dean,_ please_, I'm so close." _Ew, ew, ew_, Dean and Castiel were definitely _not_ downstairs getting hammered. Jimmy quickly marches over to his parents room because there was no way he was sleeping in his own bed with his brother and his boyfriend naked on the bed next to his. This is why he hates when his parents go on business trips, Dean always convinces Castiel to break every single rule his dad set. Jimmy should have known that Castiel had ulterior motives trying to get him out of the house for the night.

Jimmy crawls under the covers and stretches out, his parent's bed is twice the size of Jimmy's and he figures might as well enjoy it instead of thinking about what is happening two rooms over.

"Oh fuck!" Castiel shouts. "Right there, oh god, don't stop."

That may be harder than he thought.

Jimmy doesn't get much sleep that night. Every time he starts to doze off of the other man begin to scream profanities and startle Jimmy awake. Around four in the morning they seem to tire themselves up and Jimmy's able to get a few hours of sleep, luckily he doesn't have nightmares.

He doesn't sleep in like he wanted to, he decides to go over to Balthazar's so he doesn't have to keep hearing the filth that comes out of his brother's mouth when he's underneath Dean. He wakes up a little after sunrise and rifles around in the laundry hamper, he pulls out a t-shirt that he thinks might actually be Dean's but is too lazy to look for anything else. The kitchen tile is cold against his feet but one cup of coffee will be enough to warm him and wake him up.

Jimmy flicks on the coffee pot and opens the cupboard to find his favorite polka-dot mug. Just as the coffee maker starts to drip black drop into the pot two arms wrap around Jimmy's waist. "Hey, gorgeous."

"uh, hello Dean." Jimmy tries to turn around but Dean just tightens his hold.

"You're always up so early," Dean nuzzled Jimmy's neck and mumbled into his skin. "We'll have to change Jimmy's sheets before he gets home," Dean chuckles, his fingers twist and undo Jimmy's jean and Jimmy's a little too stunned to protest.

"Sheets?" Jimmy gasps when Dean wraps a hand around him. Jimmy bucks into Dean's hand and his brother's boyfriend takes that as encouragement to keep going. Jimmy clues in that Dean thinks he's Castiel and he tries to pull away but there isn't a lot of wiggle room trapped between Dean and the counter top.

"You know I love hearing you scream." Dean hot breath ghosts over Jimmy's skin, his hand working faster over Jimmy's cock. "You were so hot last night, Cas."

"I'm not-" Dean sucks down on Jimmy's neck and Jimmy instantly forgets what he was saying. Dean's free hand pushes up under Jimmy's shirt, his thumb flicking over Jimmy's nipple. Jimmy's knees go weak, he has to grip the countertop to stop from crumbling in Dean's arms. Dean grinds his hips against Jimmy's, his hard cock rubbing against Jimmy's ass.

"Wait, I'm- Castiel's not-" Jimmy's protest dies down to a whimper when he comes hot and wet into Dean's hand. Dean kisses up and down Jimmy's neck while Jimmy isn't able to do much beside panting and trying to get his brain working again.

"Well this is unexpected." Jimmy can't turn around with Dean's body still pressed against him but he recognizes Castiel's voice. Dean feels Dean turn slightly, enough to look over shoulder while still covering Jimmy so the intruder can't see the mess Jimmy's in.

"I thought you were spending the weekend at you brothers?" There's a moment of awkward silence before Dean clues and he jumps away from Jimmy like he's been burned. "Whoa, _whoa._"

Jimmy fumbles to re-button his pants, his skin coloured a bright crimson. "I- I tried to tell you."

Castiel raises an eyebrow at Jimmy, two cups of coffee steaming in his hand and he nudges off his shoes. Dean awkwardly wipes his dirty hand on his jeans and looks up at the ceiling to avoid making eye-contact with either Castiel or Jimmy. "I uh…this is- Merry Christmas, Jimmy."

Dean speed walks over to the stairs without looking at either of the twins, Jimmy can see Dean's blushing even worse than Jimmy. Jimmy's left alone in the kitchen with Castiel, whose face is completely blank, Jimmy has no idea if he's furious or amused. Castiel sets the cups of coffee on the table, pulls off his mitten and coat and turns to face Jimmy. "When you're done cleaning up, you're welcome to join us."


	6. 19

"Oh Wow," Dean gasps kneeling next to the soggy cardboard box. He drops all the cans he'd stolen from the Food Bank and they clatter on the sidewalk, probably denting a few of them. Last year John had gone to the food bank and brought back a whole turkey for them, it was small and didn't have a lot of meat but it was the only meal they had shared all winter. This year though his dad hadn't come back in time from his hunting trip and the people at the food bank said he was too young to receive a donation.

The box in front of him is falling apart, dripping black letters read _free to a good home_ across the front. Dean peers inside the box and finds a little boy curled up under a big beige coat. The boy looks like he's about Dean's age, couldn't be much older than nine, and he's sound asleep despite the bitter cold outside. Dean reaches in and pokes at the kid, "hey, are you alive?"

The boy's eyes snap open and he sits up so fast Dean jumps a little in surprise. "Who are you?"

"I'm Dean. Why are you in a box?"

"My brother left me here." The boys shoulders hunch up and Dean thinks he sees something move around beneath the jacket but doesn't say anything. "He said he didn't think he could take care of me anymore."

"Give me your hand," Dean demands and grabs the other boy's hand before he can say anything. Dean reaches into his pocket and pulls out a salt shaker he'd taken from the motel room. He dumps some salt on the stranger's palm and when his skin doesn't start bubbling, Dean nods satisfyingly. "Okay, you check out."

"I'm glad," he replies, though Dean can tell he has no idea what Dean means.

"Where are your parents?"

"Parents?"

"Yeah, does your mommy know you're out here?"

"I don't have a mommy," the little boy shakes his head.

"I don't have a mommy either," Dean smiles sadly. He puts his hand on top of the other boys, he can feels his warmth through the coats thin material and he wonders how he can manage to stay so warm when it's so cold outside. "What's your name?"

"I am Castiel."

"Cast- Casteel- I'm going to call you Cas." Castiel tilts his head at the nickname but nods. "So where's your dad?"

"I don't know."

"Me either." Dean reaches down for the cans he'd dropped drop earlier and piles them back in his arms. "I don't have a lot of food but if you help me carry it, you can have some."

"I don't require sustenance." Dean isn't completely sure what that means but Castiel holds a hand out for one of the cans. "But I will help."

Dean hands him a can of creamed corn and Castiel tries to climb out of the box but it collapses as soon as Castiel puts pressure on it. Castiel tumbles out of the box and slides against the pavement, he pushes himself onto his knees and Dean sees a drop of blood splatter on the ground. "Are you okay!?"

Castiel turns to Dean but there's nothing there to mar his pale skin, not a single cut or scrape. "I am fine."

"I thought…" Dean trails off and shakes his head. "Come on, we got to get this food back before Sammy wakes up."

"Who is Sammy?"

"He's my baby brother, he's only five but he's super smart. He knows how to use a can opener," Dean grins. "Take your coat off, we can use it to carry all these cans. You can wear mine instead, I know it's cold."

Castiel places a hand over Dean's as he goes to unzip his coat. "That won't be necessary."

Castiel pulls his short arms out of the long sleeves and drops the beige coat next to the pile of cans. They begin to pile the can't on top of the coat until Castiel leans over to grab a can of spam. There are two fluffy wing sprouting out of Castiel's back, the white t-shirt shredded where the appendages attach to his shoulders. "What are those?"

Castiel sees Dean staring at his back and the wings shiver a little under the boys gaze. "They're my wings."

"You're not…you're not human," Dean swallows, his dad wasn't going to be happy if he knew Dean couldn't tell the difference from a human and a- whatever the hell Castiel was.

"No, of course not," Castiel says like it's the most obvious thing in the world, his brow furring.

"Are you a monster?" Dean asked nervously.

"No," Castiel shakes his head and grabs Dean's wrist when he sees him start to inch away. "Don't be afraid, I'm an angel."

"Like an angel _angel_?" Dean squeaks and Castiel nods. Dean's not sure what to say, so he says what his dad always does when he's surprised. "Son of a bitch."

"I've already told you, I don't have a mother."

"I didn't think angels were real," Dean tells him. "I thought they were just something we put on top of Christmas trees."

Castiel gives him a slightly terrified look. "Why would you put an angel on top of a tree?"

"Never mind," Dean mumbles and starts to pick up the rest of the cans. "Let's just hurry up so I can take you home."

They pile the rest of the bags on Castiel's coat and when there aren't any left, pull the corners of the coat together and tie them together. Castiel places the make shift bag in Dean's hands then gives him a small smile, "Close your eyes, Dean."

"Why?" Dean asks but closes his eyes before he gets an answer. Tiny fingers brush against his cheeks and it sends a warm tingle through his whole body.

"You can open them now," Castiel tells him. Dean opens his eyes but he's not in the street anymore, he's back in his motel room. At first he's too dizzy to really notice but then he hears crying coming from the other room and drop the cans he was holding to run to his brother.

"Sammy! Are you okay?" Dean jumps on the bed where Sam is clutching a pillow and crying his eyes out. Dean gently wraps his arms around Sam's shaking shoulders and hold him close.

"I- I- I- I woke up, you were gone, " Sam sobs frantically into Dean's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Sammy." Dean rubs soothing circles into his baby brother back. "I brought us food, look."

Dean points over to where Castiel is standing next to the can filled coat, looking awkward and alone. "And uh, I brought us an angel too."

"An angel?" Sam sniffles peeking out from under Dean's arms. Dean waves a hand at Castiel, motioning for him to come closer and the angel cautiously climbs onto the bed next to Sam and Dean.

"Hello, Sam, it's nice to meet you." Castiel places his palm on Sam's knee. "My name is Castiel.

"Look at these Sammy." Dean grabs Castiel's shoulder and twists him around so Sam can see his wings.

"Are those real?" Sam awes.

"Very," Castiel replies, a little insulted. Sam suddenly reaches out and runs his fingers along the white feathers, Castiel jumps a little in surprise but doesn't pull away. Castiel's wings wiggle under Sam's touch, the child giggles and reaches a hand up to the left wing. Sammy curls his fingers in the feathers and before Dean can tell him to be gentle, Sam yanks _hard_. Castiel yelps and in a blink of an eye disappears, a quiet woosh and a soft breeze is the only indication that he was ever there.

"Where he go?" Sam asks confused.

"I don't know, Cas?" Dean calls out but gets no response. "Sammy! You broke my angel!"

"I didn't mean to!"

"I did not like that, Sam." The brothers turn to the right to find Castiel sitting cross legged on the television and looking none too pleased. "Please do not do it again."

"I'm sorry." Sam reaches out to the angel but Castiel doesn't budge on the television.

"He won't do it again, Cas," Dean assures him, jumping off the bed and walks over to Castiel. "He doesn't get to meet too many people. He didn't learn manners from mom like I did."

Castiel purses his lips but nods and vanishes again only to reappear next to the cans again. "I believe you mentioned making dinner for your brother."

"Yeah, you hungry Sammy?" His brother eagerly nods and runs over to Castiel in the kitchen. He picks up random cans and asks Castiel to read the label for him so he can figure out what he wants to eat. Dean decides that Christmas might not suck as much as he thought it would.

Now he just had to figure out how to explain Castiel to his dad.


	7. 18

"Once upon a time there was this really pretty angel who found a hunter who was one handsome son of a bitch and they fought their way out of hell together. This angel was so hot that he burned the hunter the first time they touched and the hunter was so awesome that the angel fell from heaven just for him. But the hunter had a little brother that didn't like to listen, even though the hunter was always right, so he made a mistake that put the whole world in danger. So the hunter had to almost single handily save the world with only a little help from his angel. And for a while everything was good but the angel had spent too much time with the annoying little brother so he thought he didn't have to listen to the hunter either. So he messed up too and the world was in danger again and the hunter had to clean up everyone's mess. But even though the hunter was very mad at the angel he also couldn't live without him, it took a very long time but eventually the hunter forgave his angel. Ever since then the hunter, his little brother and the angel have been traveling the country and working in the family business."

"That is ridiculous," Mary said, her brows crunching in displeasure. "I don't buy into the premise of that story at all. Why would an angel rebel just because he found a human attractive?"

"Yeah, that sucked," John agreed with his sister.

"That story was awesome," Dean scoffed. He pulled the covers up around the twins and tucked it around their small bodies. "You kids just have no taste, you get that from your papa."

"We want to hear the Genesis story again," Mary demanded, she wiggled out from under the covers and clasped her hands beneath her chin. "_Please,_ daddy."

"Nope, deal was one story then bed."

"But we hated your story," John grumbled while attempting to pull his sister back down onto the bed.

"Well, next time you'll have to ask papa to tell you a story." Dean pulled on Mary's ankle and she tumbled on to the bed, he pulled the covers back up and leaned down to kiss his daughters forehead. "Goodnight, baby."

John struggled a bit when Dean tried to lay a kiss on him, the kids at school had told him kissing was for girls, but Dean managed to plant a wet one above his left eye. "Gross, daddy."

"Sorry, buddy," Dean laughed and flicked the lights off. "I'll see you in the morning okay?"

Dean was halfway out the door when Mary's soft voice made him pause. "Just _one_ more story?"

"I'd love to sweetheart but I was in the middle of getting some when you two barged in." Dean chuckled at the confused look on his kids face as he shut the door. He walked back down the hall to the room he shared with Castiel, eager to get back to their previous activities.

When he opened the door he found Castiel spread out on the bed, sheet just barely covering his hips. He was also sleeping. Dean could imagine Castiel trying to make sure he looked sexy for when Dean came back and then being unable to stay awake long enough. Dean wasn't sure if that was cute or depressing. He picked up Castiel's boxers off the ground and tried to slip them back on the ex-angel without waking him up and failing miserably.

"Dean?" Castiel asked groggily.

"Go back to sleep, babe." Dean nudged Castiel on his side and pressed his chest up against his husband's.

"But…" Castiel trailed off trying to suppress a yawn.

"It's okay, we'll drop the kids off at Sammy's tomorrow and you can have me all to yourself for a few hours." Dean pressed a kiss behind Castiel's ear and wrapped an arm around him.

"We are supposed to use that time to go shopping for Christmas."

"I won't tell if you don't."


	8. 17

"this was a horrible idea," Castiel whispered. "how did you convince me to do this?"

"come on, Cas, this is great!" Dean peaked out from behind the curtains trying to locate his parents in the shadowy crowd. "Look! Even my dad showed up."

"I've- I've never done this before..." Castiel trailed off nervously, fiddling with the wire halo attached to his head. "what if I mess up?"

"you'll do great, you just walk up to Chasity and say...?"

"Hail Mary, the lord is with you, blessed art thou and blessed is the fruit of thy womb."

"What? No thats not the line."

"Well that's what it should be." Castiel looked at Dean with weary eyes. "the drummer boy isn't even in the bible."

"Just say your line!"

"Fear not Mary, for god has blessed you with a baby and you shall call him Jesus," Castiel recites with absolutely no emotions in his tone.

"Dude you suck," Dean said a little too loudly and one of the little boys on stage glared at him. Dean patted Castiel on the back and lowered his voice. "You're just nervous."

"I hate this, I do not want to be here."

"I know what will help!" Dean declared and went back into the chaning room. Nestled inside a crib, wrapped in a blanket slept Deans little brother Sam. He was a little old to be playing a baby but he was the youngest kid they could find. Dean scooped his brother up, tiny hands hooked under his armpits and held the baby close to Dean's chest. When he returned, Castiel took one look at the baby and cringed, Dean Winchester did not know how to hold a baby.

"What are you doing?"

Dean held Sammy up inches from Castiel's face and grinned. "Kiss him!"

"Why?"

"It's good luck."

"Why would it be good luck to kiss your brother."

"Because he's Jesus."

"He is not!"

"Castiel, kiss baby Jesus, right now!"

"No!"

"Be quiet you two!" their teacher Eve hissed. She grabbed Castiel by his shower and ushered him towards the stage. "You missed your que, now get on there."

She gave him a hard shove and he stumbled on to the stage. The bright lights we blinding and Chastity stared at him with lips pursed in annoyance. Castiel stared it at the crowd, knowing his parents were in there staring back and filming his collasal failure at the re-enactment of the birth of the messiah.

"F-f-fear, fear not..." Castiel's voice wavered, he tried to swallow down the lump in his throat but only found it difficult when his lip kept quivering.

"Castiel," Chasity whispered harshly and that was all that was needed to unleash the floodgates. Castiel burst into tears, water streaming down his face and hands clenched at his sides. His sobs echoed across the stage and everyone else froze in surprise.

"Castiel!" Dean called out from behind the curtain but his friend couldn't hear him over the sound of his own crying. Dean ran on to the stage, with his brother still in his arms and the barely missing Mrs. Eve's attempt to grab him. Dean stood in front of Castiel, blocking his view of the crowd and Castiels crying died down to gentle sobs. "Hey, it's okay. Just say your lines."

"I messed up," Castiel snuffled.

"Everyone messes up sometimes. Mom says it only counts as losing if you give up."

"Okay," Castiel nodded and wiped his nose on the sleeve of his costume. He turned to Chasity, who did not look impressed, and tried again. "Fear not Mary, for god has blessed you with a baby and you shall call him Jesus."

Castiel voice was soft and shaky but Dean grinned anyways, chest puffed out in pride that his friend had gotten his lines right. It was only the that he realized that everyone was staring at him, the little drummer boy who wasn't supposed to come out for another two scenes. Sam wiggled in his arms as if encouraging him to think of something fast. He coughed to get Chastity's attention then shoved his baby brother into the little girls arms. "Here he is, special delivery!"

A hushed silence fell over the crowd and Dean started to get nervous thinking he'd messed up even worse then Cas. Someone in the crowd burst into laughter and the rest of the parents followed, Dean thought they were making fun of him till he heard then start to clap. The curtains suddenly closed and their teacher stormed onto the stage, yelling about how everything was ruined and that she shold have become a stewardess like her mother wanted.

"I think you did great, Dean," Castiel told him shyly. And really as long as Castiel liked it, he didn't care what Mrs. Eve thought.


	9. 16

Castiel is terrified.

He almost stayed home from school because he's dreading what he might find in his locker that day. His Secret Santa clearly had some mental issues and Castiel is starting to fear for his life. The first gift was a knife, which Castiel thought was weird but figured that it was meant to be a manly gift. He shoved it deep into his bag where the was no chance of a teacher seeing it and forgot about it. The second gift was an adult magazine called Busty Asian Beauties and Castiel was not impressed but again just thought his Secret Santa was a teenage boy and that was just what normal boys liked.

The bullets through him off. 200 7mm bullets in a old Tupperware container. Castiel locked every door and window when he got home that night.

Gift four was a two dozens condoms. Castiel's Secret Santa was sending mix signals.

It only gets worse and Castiel just can't figure out whose sending these gifts. Day five is bottle of Jack. Day six is a DVD that he doesn't realize is porn till about ten minutes into watching it. Day seven is a container of car oil, Castiel has never in his life driven a car.

He starts writing pleading notes to his Secret Santa instead of giving gifts. _Please stop sending me dangerous weapons, I could be suspended from school. I do not own a gun or have any use for a knife._

_I also have no use for pornography, if my mother ever found this I would be grounded for a very long time._

_PLEASE stop sending me weapons, perhaps you thought my first letter was a joke but is not._

_I am giving you a dozen of my sisters Christmas cookies. If these horrible gifts stop I promise you will get them every day._

_No, I also have no interest in gay pornography but thank you for the consideration._

_Yesterday, you gave me a half drunken bottle of Wild Turkey, the thought you put in these gifts is drastically decreasing. I have an uneasy hope that perhaps you have run out of disturbing gifts to send me._

_That jar you gave me on Friday, was it full of teeth? They feel very realistic and appear to some sort of animal fang. I pray _

_WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE PICTURES OF ME?_

_Yesterday I received another DVD from you. Honestly I'm afraid to watch it, I don't know what could be a step up from gay porn. _

_Please save the condoms for yourself, I have no use for them. While I appreciate you trying to encourage safe sex I am much too socially inept to engage in sexual intercourse at this time._

_You gift of a pair of handcuffs is both confusing and unsettling._

Castiel isn't expecting the gift he receives on the last day. It has nothing to do with sex or violence, it's a simple necklace, black cord and a bronze pendent. He also has no idea what it actually is, it looks like a man with horns on top of his head. As Castiel slips it over his head he prays it's not actually a satanic idol.

Castiel's favorite part of the Christmas season is the days between when school ends and his parents come home. It's one weekend where the house is quiet and he doesn't have to trudge through the snow before the suns gone up. It's not that he doesn't particularly like his parents, it's more that he doesn't enjoy the loud lavish parties they through around winter time.

Castiel goes to bed already planning the things he's going to get done tomorrow. Christmas gifts and finding the missing button for his trench coat. He's half asleep when he hears a banging coming from downstairs. He tries to ignore it and go back to sleep but the noise sounds again and on the third time Castiel finally rises from bed. He pulls a t-shirt on, expecting to go down and only find a window he had forgotten to close but when he is half way down the hall he hears someone swear. Castiel quickly back tracks to his room, as quietly as he can, and reaches under his bed to pull out a box full of useless Christmas gifts. At the bottom of the box is a sharp bowie knife.

Castiel take slow nervous steps down the stairs, hoping to not alert whoever has broken in that there's someone else in the house. There's a good chance they took the empty driveway and dark house to mean the occupants have gone away for the winter. When he reaches the kitchen he can see through into the living room where a shadowy figure is riffling through his dad's desks drawers.

"Don't move," Castiel orders. The man turns around and Castiel realizes he's little more than a boy dressed in an oversized leather jacket.

"Gotta say, you don't all that comfortable holding a knife that big."

"Who are you? Why are you in my house?" Castiel asks, staying firm in place even when the stranger steps towards him.

"I need my pendent back."

"Your what?" The stranger moves again and this time Castiel takes a cautious step back.

"I know you must have loved all my other presents but I really need this one back."

"You're my secret Santa?" Castiel lowers his knife but only a little. "You give the most mediocre gifts I've ever seen."

"Sorry," he shrugs, "that's all I had in my car at the time."

Castiel does not want to consider how disturbing and pathetic that is. "That doesn't explain why you are in my house."

"Yeah, look, my brother and I got into a _huge_ fight and I gave you the necklace because I was pissed. But now I'm going to need it back." He steps closer and Castiel raises the knife. "I thought you didn't have a need for knives?"

"That was before I found someone breaking into my house." The stranger smirks at Castiel and then lunges, Castiel tries to step back but the other man already has him turned around with his arm twisted behind his back. He squeezes Castiel's wrist till he cries out and drops the knife.

"Just tell me where the necklace is," he chuckles, pushing Castiel up against the wall.

"I don't know," Castiel swallows nervously. He has no idea why he's lying about a useless hunk of metal. "I threw it out."

His secret Santa releases his arm but he only gets a moment of relief before he's spun around and the stranger pins his wrists against the wall. "Did you?"

He doesn't look angry, just mildly amused as he invades Castiel's space. "Yes, like I did with all your pointless gifts."

"Except the knife," he points out and grins.

"So I kept one gift."

"And the porno."

"I most certainly did not keep those filthy movies," Castiel snorts.

"Really?" He smiles again and leans down to whisper in Castiel's ear. "Because you left the empty case right next to the DVD player."

Castiel cheeks turn bright red and he tries to yank his wrists free from the strangers hold. "I don't know where your trash necklace is so you might as well-"

The stranger's lips crash against his, he keeps Castiel's wrists firmly in place but presses their hips together in gentle waves. Castiel stays stiff and wide eyes, he never thought his first kiss would be with a complete stranger in his kitchen. When Castiel doesn't respond the stranger pulls away and rests their foreheads together. "Dean."

"What?"

"My name's Dean."

"Well, Dean, do you think it's a good idea for a robber to give out their name. Clearly you're- oh," Castiel gasps when Dean's lip latch on to the dip in his neck. There's a scrape of teeth and the warm press of tongue, that has Castiel's blood flowing downward. He can feel Dean smile against his skin, he pulls Castiel's hands up and lays them on his shoulders. Before Castiel has time to even consider running away, Dean's now free hands push up under his shirt.

Castiel loses himself against the feel of Dean, fingers twisting at his nipples, hand reaching into his pants and grabbing his ass, burn of teeth digging into his neck. He's a mess of nervous until Dean pulls away and leaves Castiel feeling cold. "Did you throw the condoms out too?"

Castiel shakes his head, "I didn't throw anything out, it's all in a box under…under my bed."

Dean's eyes light up and he leans down to nip at Castiel's jaw making the boy whimper and pull Dean closer. Dean tugs at the hem of Castiel's shirt, "Lift your arms up."

There's a bit of a struggle to get Castiel's shirt off but when it's finally pulled free Castiel's already working on his belt buckle. Dean's stopped touching him though and when Castiel looks up Dean is grinning smuggle at his chest. Specifically at the pendant dangling from his neck. "So what do I gotta do to convince you to give that back?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something."


	10. 15

Despite what Dean and Sam had been expecting , Castiel hates Christmas.

He hates the inaccurate depictions of angels. He hates that they celebrate the birth of Christ of the wrong day. He hates that people go insane in the stores as they go into a spending frenzy. He hates drummer boys and wise men and Santa Claus because he says they all have nothing to do with Jesus. He hates that people pretend to be nice to people they hate just because it's Christmas time.

"I hate eggnog," Castiel declares in Bobby's kitchen.

Dean add rums to it, Castiel still hates it.

He drinks it anyways.

"Another thing I hate about this holiday is your decorations," Castiel grumbles trying to brush off the tinsel that clung to his jacket. "And your films about pessimistic young boys with bodies too small to support their large heads."

"Charlie Brown is a classic," Sam explains and hangs candy canes on the lopsided tree they have.

"Also-"

"Chill Cas," Dean snaps pouring him another glass of crappy eggnog. "You're not supposed to start bitching till after you get smashed."

"I doubt you have enough eggnog for me to be inebriated." Castiel chugs down the mug of eggnog in one gulp and then grabs Dean's cup and does the same.

"Sam, go see if there's any more decorations in the attic." Sam sets the candy cane box on Bobby's desk and heads upstairs. As soon as Dean hears his brother's footsteps on the stairs he grabs Castiel's hand and tugs him off the couch. "Come on."

"Why? Where are we going?" Castiel asks as Dean drags him towards the kitchen. They pause in the doorway and Dean gently pushes Castiel up against the frame. "If I'm going to be forced to celebrate this holiday I'd like to do it while drinking your mediocre eggnog cocktail."

"Look up," Dean chuckles and pushes two fingers beneath Castiel's chin. His eyes dart up to a few leaves of a plastic plant and a few berries nailed to the door frame.

"If you expect me to compliment your decorating skills when you've sat around all day while Sam decorated, you will not be pleased." Dean rolls his eyes and leans in, pressing a soft kiss to Castiel's lips. He gives the angel a moment to clue in before he drags his tongue over his bottom lip, Castiel moans and opens his mouth to let Dean in. The kiss doesn't last long, Dean has to pull away to breath, plus Sam will be coming soon and Castiel knows Dean doesn't like being affectionate in front of other people.

"You have to kiss under the mistletoe," Dean explains, pulling away from Castiel and walking back over to the tree, "it's tradition."

Castiel loves Christmas.


	11. 14

Dean spends all night camped outside a vampire nest, getting completely soaked and is exhausted by the time he chops off the last vampires head. Two days later he has the worst cold he's ever had and Sam leaves him in bed with a warm towel on his forehead and two blankets wrapped around him.

Castiel pops in a few hours later, forcing Dean out of the deep slumber he's been in all day. "What's wrong with you?"

"'m sick," Dean sniffles.

"Why didn't you call me?" Castiel asks pressing the back of his hand against Dean's cheek to check his temperature.

"What could you have done?" Dean and turns over so Castiel will leave him alone. "Your batteries are running low."

"I'm sure I can handle one little cold," Castiel bristles at Dean's doubt. "I'm not completely useless yet."

"I don't think your useless," Dean sighs but it comes out nasally. "I just don't want you to waste whats left of your mojo on-"

Dean is cut off by Castiel pressing two fingers to the back of his neck and the cold sensation that spread through his body. His nose suddenly works and the aches in his joints disappear.

"Cas!"

"What?"

"You weren't supposed to do that!" He shouts, kicking all the blankets off the bed. "You're supposed to be conserving what's left of your grace."

"It is my grace, I'll do whatever I want with it," Castiel tells him firmly, not liking that Dean is ordering him around instead of being grateful. "Besides, what's the worse that would happen?"

As it turn out the worst case scenario happens a few days later. Castiel healed Dean but that was a blow to what was left of his angel powers and next time the brothers saw him he had a runny nose and cheeks red with fever.

"This is ridiculous," Castiel groaned. "I fought my way through hell and now I've been brought down by a tiny virus."

Unfortunately for Dean, Castiel was a big baby when he was sick. Granted it was the first time he'd ever been sick so Dean cut him some slack but Castiel was making it hard. "Hate to say I told you so."

"Do not mock me, Dean." Castiel swatted at Dean's hand and sent the Vix Vapour Rub he was holding crashing to the ground. "I am still an angel."

"You're sick," Dean sat down next to Castiel and pulls the covers up over his shoulders. "When people are sick, they're supposed to let people take care of them."

"You didn't let me take care of you," Castiel said weakly, blowing into a tissue and tossing it in the trash.

"Well now's your chance to show what a better man then me you are." The microwave beeps and Dean gets up and walks to the tiny attached kitchen.

"My brothers and sisters warned me about you," Castiel grumbles into his pillow and Dean rolls his eyes. "They said nothing good would come from associating with you."

Dean takes the bowl of soup out of the microwave and stirred it a few times while Castiel continues to complain in the background. "They told me bad things would happen if I got to close to you."

Dean sits back down on the bed and places the soup on the nightstand. "Now look at me."

"Okay, okay, don't be so dramatic. It's just a tiny cold."

"Dean, are you aware how many people die from influenza each year in America alone?" Castiel pauses, probably to add drama, while Dean searches for the Vapour rub. "Over thirty thousand."

"You don't have influenza, Cas."

"It feels like influenza." Castiel pulls the blanket over his head.

Dean gets on his knees and reaches under the bed, finally finding the bottle and reaches up to pull the blanket off Castiel. "Get on your back."

"I just want to sleep." Castiel doesn't budge but he's week enough that it's easy for Dean to push him on his back. "Dean, please."

"Just wait a bit," Dean orders. He unbuttons Castiel's shirt then smears the semi-clear sludge all over his chest.

"This smells horrible."

"I know. I'm sorry babe, you'll feel better soon," Dean promises. He wipes his hand off on the foot of the bed and bunches the blankets around Castiel's waist. "You should eat something."

"I'm not hungry."

"It's good." Dean stirs the soup again and gently blows on the hot spoonful. "I used to make this for Sam when he was sick."

Castiel grimaces but sits up a bit to look at the soup. "What is it?" "Half chicken noodle, half vegetable. Guaranteed to be the best soup in the world."

"That's putting a lot of pressure on a soup from a can." Dean holds the spoon in front of the angel's lips and even though he still looks a little doubtful he opens his mouth. Half way through the bowl, Castiel's eyes begin to droop and Dean puts the bowl back on the night table. He grabs a washcloths and goes back to the bed to wipe Castiel's chest clean so he can pull the covers around him, he can tell that Castiel is struggling to stay awake." Dean will you stay with me?"

"Course I will." Dean pushes the blanket around Castiel, creating a tight cocoon to keep him warm.

"Will you hold me while I sleep," he yawns.

"That's not going to happen, you're sick and smell like Vapour rub." Dean expects Castiel to argue but he only hears soft breathing instead, Castiel out like a light


	12. 13

**AH! This is late I know :( but that means you get two stories today!**

"Do you really think this is going to work?" Castiel asked, nearly crushing a green present beneath his elbow.

"Of course it will," Dean scoffed at Castiel's doubt and adjusted the branches that rested on top his head. "I saw it on TV."

"I doubt that the TV is always realistic." The two children were hiding in the corner, their upper half concealed under the Christmas tree and surrounded by presents.

"I'm going to prove to you Santa Claus exists." Castiel opened his mouth to disagree but a noise from upstairs silences him. "Did you hear that?"

"That…the roof is too slippery for reindeers to land on," Castiel tried to reason but he was staring up the stairs with wide, curious eyes. "It's impossible."

Something at the top of the stairs grunted and the sound of jingle bells floated down, followed by heavy boots taking the steps one by one. Dean peaked through the branches to get a good look at the intruder and gasped when he saw the white trimmed red suits.

"That's," Castiel whispered, "that's Santa!"

"Castiel! Shhh!" Dean shushed. Santa dropped his heavy sack on the floor, inches from Dean and began to take the presents out. The boys sat in silence while the presents were piled higher and higher until the bag was emptied and Santa let out a disappointed sigh.

"Oh no! A sad Santa," Dean's mother laughed from the stairs. Castiel and Dean twisted over as much as they could to look at Mary sitting on the stairs in her nightgown.

"Guess the kids are still sleeping. " Santa picked up his sack and slung it over his shoulder. "Waste of a suit."

"I think Castiel snuck over again, there are foot prints in the snow outside," Mary giggled, stood up and walked over to Santa.

"Might have to put that kid on the naughty list next year," Santa chuckled. Castiel paled at the comment and nudged at Dean who held a finger up to his lips, telling him to keep quiet. "Speaking of the naughty list."

Santa reached out to Mary and yanked her forward, she collided into his chest and threw her arms around him. "Oh, Saint Nick!"

"I hear you've been a bad girl this year." Mary giggled again and then Santa leaned down and kissed Dean's mother, the bottom half of her face disappearing in his white beard. Dean's jaw dropped and his cheeks lit up in a mix of shock and embarrassment.

Castiel slapped a hand over his mouth and whispered harshly in his ear. "Sh, Dean! I'm not losing all my presents because you attack Santa!"

"Oh no, does that mean I get no gifts this year?" Mary asked, fluttered her eyelashes and leaned into Santa's arms.

"Well," Santa drawled and scooped Mary up bridal style, "maybe there's some things you can do to convince me."

Santa carried Mary up the stairs leaving Dean and Castiel frozen under the tree. When they hear the door close on Mary's bedroom they finally crawled out from under the tree. Dean stared blankly at the stairs where Santa had just carried his mother up, his married mother who must have been lonely with his dad working late that night. Castiel put a cautionary hand on the boys shoulder, "Dean…"

Dean spun on his heels and went to where the stockings where hung and pulled out the BB gun Santa had just left him. He quickly filled it with ammo and headed up the stairs. "I'm going to kill Santa Claus."

Castiel was right, there was no such thing as Santa.

Dean couldn't look at his parents for the rest of Christmas break.


	13. 12

Dean travels a lot. Usually Castiel doesn't mind, there's texting, Skype, the telephone and other endless possibilities to keep them in touch. But around holidays and their son's birthday, Castiel feels his absent especially hard. The money keeps them in a nice house and Richard in a good school but sometimes Castiel wishes it was seven years ago and he was still riding around Dean.

Castiel gets up early that day because it's the only time he has to wrap Richard's presents, he's a lot like his dad, likes to stay up late and sleep in. Fortunately it's something that Dean and Richard only get to do on vacation.

Castiel yawns and turns the coffee maker on and grabs the bags of presents he's been hiding in the cupboards. He lays a strip of blue wrapping paper and weighs it down with an empty coffee cup, while he searched for some tape in the kitchen drawers.

"Someone's been busy."

Castiel spins around, scissors in one and the newly found tape in the other. "Dean?"

His husband smiles at him, crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe. "Miss me?"

Castiel drops his scissors and tape, crosses the room in three large steps and throws himself against Dean. Dean lets out an _oof_ against Castiel's sudden weight and wraps an arm around his waist, he still smells like winter air and gasoline from all the time he's spent on the road. "You're back."

"_Drove all night, just to make it home,"_ Dean sings softly into Castiel's hair. He presses a kiss to Castiel's temple and then pulls his husband back to the island in the middle of their kitchen. "Okay, show me what you got the brat."

"I wish you wouldn't call him that," Castiel mumbles but it's hard to stay mad at Dean when he's come for a surprise visit.

"Ricky's a little hell-raiser just like his daddy." Dean positions Castiel between himself and the countertop, his arms slung over his waist and his chin on Castiel's shoulder. "So, what we got?"

Castiel grabs the first bag, full of small stocking stuffers and dumps it on the counter then takes the actual gifts off and sets them out on a line in front of them. "There's already a few under the tree, from Sam and my family."

Dean hooks his fingers around a toy tool belt and gives a lopsided grin. "Cute."

"I thought you'd like that one," Castiel says rubbing a thumb over the back of Dean's hand. Dean went onto the next, awkwardly lifting it up with Castiel still between his arms.

"Is this…?"

"It's an Easy Bake Oven," Castiel tells him. "Richard asked for it."

"It's pink," Dean grimaces.

"That's the only colour they had."

"Could at least put some skulls on it," Dean murmurs setting the box back down.

"Dean."

"If my dad knew his grandson had an Easy Bake, he'd be rolling over in his grave."

"_I bake_," Castiel snaps and the tension instantly melts off Dean's face.

"Best apple pie this side of the Mississippi," Dean grins and nudges Castiel face to the left so he could plant a gentle kiss on his lips.

Castiel shows Dean the rests of the present, his husband nodding and smiling at each one. Dean picks up the sticky gift tags next to the tape, some say from Castiel, some from Santa and the last few from Dean. Dean goes quiet and Castiel senses the change in mood instantly. "He's going to know I didn't buy any of these."

"Dean," Castiel says quickly, turning around and taking Dean's face between his hands. Castiel knows how much Dean wishes he could be around more, knows he hates driving all over the country and leaving them alone. He hears the confliction every night when he has to hang up the phone but they don't have enough money saved up for him to look for another job. "There's still time, we will go shopping tomorrow."

"Thought you didn't want me spoiling the kid?" Dean lets out a small laugh but it's still tinged with sadness.

"Well one Christmas won't ruin him for life." It's a touchy issue for the two of them. Castiel, who grew up with money, doesn't want Richard to grow up not appreciating things like his brother Gabriel did. But Dean, who grew up with nothing, wants to give his son all the things Sam and him didn't have.

"You're too good to me, Cas." Dean leans down and kisses him, tangling his fingers in Castiel's still bed-crumpled hair. Castiel curls his hands in Dean's shirt and Dean slides his knee up between Castiel's thighs. "I've got something you'll love in the trunk of my car."

Castiel smiles against Dean's lips but then comes to a horrifying realization. "I didn't get you a gift."

Dean pulls away in false-anger, "you didn't!"

"I thought I'd have time this weekend, I didn't expect you to be home so early. " Castiel looks away in guilt. Dean lets out a small chuckle and reaches for something on the counter before he smacks a bow on Castiel forehead. Castiel's eyes criss-cross trying to look at the big red ribbon, "what's that for?"

"You're my present this year," Dean explains. Castiel's heart swells and he pulls Dean down into another kiss, their noses squishing together from the force of it.

"Daddy?" Dean groans and pulls away from Castiel, looking over to the door way where Richard stands in footie PJs, clutching a teddy bear to his chest and rubbing his eyes. "You're home."

"You bet I am, little man!" Dean grins, walking over to his sun and scooping him up into his arms before he can see any more of his presents. "Just in time SpongeBob, right?"

Dean takes Richard into the living room and Castiel starts to pile the gifts back into the bags. There'd be plenty of time to wrap them later.


	14. 11

Dean, Sam and Castiel each need a gingerbread house to get into the Christmas party at the community center. And they need to get into the community center because there's a ghost that's about to massacre a gymnasium full of people at exactly 8:42.

It's not as easy as Dean would have thought though. He squeezes the bag of icing a little too hard and it just falls apart and leaves the entire roof covered in white frosting. "Damn."

"You need to go slower," Sam tells him while he fixes the marshmallow snowman next to his gumdrop walkway.

"I don't know why we just didn't buy some pre-made houses," Dean complains and sucks the icing off his fingers.

"Sold out."

"Would you like some help?" Castiel asks looking up from his nearly finished house. He had finished most of the house an hour ago and was now placing chocolate wafers on the roof to from shingles. "It's much easier once you realize that the building principles are similar to an actual house. Except, instead of mortar and concrete you use icing and candy."

"No, I'm throwing this in the trash where it belongs." Dean picks up the ugly house, takes a bite out of the gingerbread door and drops the rest in the garbage can.

"Great, how do you plan on getting in now?" Sam rolls his eyes. Dean digs a pen out of his coat pocket and pulls out a pen. He grabs on of the name tags and scribbles something on it before sticking it on to the cake platter Castiel's house rested on.

"Kirk and John Paul Hammet," Castiel reads out. "I don't understand."

"We're married now," Dean declares and moves his ring onto his left hand. "Means we only need one house."

"The sad part is, that's not the worst reason people have gotten married," Sam sighs.

"Well," Dean grins and grabs a beer out of the fridge. "I'm gonna go watch some TV. When you're done, you can make me a sandwich, _babycakes_."

"Don't overdo it, Dean," Sam warns. Dean slaps Castiel's ass on the way out and the angel looks a little flustered at the sudden change of events. "You okay?"

Castiel's eyes fall down to the house he's worked so hard on. "I don't know how I feel about Dean taking credit for my work."

"Oh," Sam adjusts the Smartie lights, "guess you should have said something before Dean bound you in holy matrimony."


	15. 10

Castiel sucks at giving gifts. Or at least he sucks at giving Dean gifts. Sam gets an iPad, like the one he had given Bobby the year before. "Wow, where did you get the money for this?"

"I got the deposit back on the empty alcohol containers I drank last year," Castiel tells him picking up the gift Sam got him. It's not even that Dean and Sam make a big deal out of Christmas, Castiel is basically that one douche bag that goes over the 20 dollar gift giving limit. Castiel gingerly unwraps his present, carefully not to rip the colourful paper, and pulls out a a joke book. Castiel thanks him, Sam and Dean snicker that Castiel doesn't get the slightly mocking gift. Sam knocks over his beer and curses before walking into Bobby's kitchen to grab some towels.

"Dean," Castiel coughs, drops to his knees and picks one of the presents up "I wanted to give you this in private."

Dean raises an eyebrow and takes the long but thin wooden box in his hands. He smiles because he can always use a new knife but when he opens it he finds pretty much the exact opposite. Inside, laid on velvet, was a single feather. It was long and pure white except for a few Enochian symbols written on it and the red string tied around the end. "Uh, this is…"

"Is it acceptable?" Castiel asks eagerly, inching forward till he's pressed against Dean's knees.

"Yeah, it's great," Dean lies. He flicks the box closed and grabs Castiel's present, the angel looks a little flustered when Dean shoves the gift into his hands but he smiles gratefully and opens it. It's a bottle of cheap tequila which Castiel eyes a little wearily but thanks Dean regardless.

Next year Dean will give Castiel a rundown of proper gift giving.

! $#

Something is up with Castiel, he's got a bigger stick up his ass than usual.

It starts on New Year's Eve when Dean is using Castiel's fancy bookmark to keep his place in an old Latin book. Castiel takes one look at the feather in-between the old pages and flutters off.

The next day, Dean reading the same book and absently chewing at the end of the feather like he would a pen. Castiel is sitting on the other side of the room, just staring at Dean with a twisted expression, after a few minutes of shooting Dean dirty looks he leaves again.

Two weeks later, Dean's forgotten all about the feather, he accidently stepped on it and by them it was so ruined he just threw it in the trash. Castiel's gotten over whatever had upset him before and things go back to normal, hunting, drinking, laughing every once and awhile.

Until Castiel finds the feather in the trash.

He practically shoves Dean out of bed in the middle of the night. "What is this?

"Look man, I'm sorry I tossed your crappy gift but I need my four hours." Dean rolls back into the center of the bed and pulls the blanket back on.

"You could have just said something," Castiel says hurriedly, crushing the damaged feather in his fist. "I didn't realize this would be an issue for you."

"What are you going on about?" Dean asks but Castiel is already gone at that point.

#%&$

_Damn, damn, damn_

"Castiel, please, can we just talk?" Dean begs to the empty sky above him. Dean had run out into the junk yard as soon as Sam had finished reading out loud a passage from an old book.

_To solidify a relationship, an angel will present one of his feathers to his chosen mate. If he wishes to join with the angel he will take the feather and the two are considered joined for life._

"This isn't totally my fault," Dean runs a hand over the back of his neck. "It's not like you explained the situation to me first. I'm not an expert on angel stuff."

"_You_ never explain human culture to me," Castiel huffs, suddenly behind Dean.

Dean takes Castiel's hand in his and teases, "so you want me to be your mate, huh?"

"Well, not anymore." Castiel tugs his hand free from Dean but the hunter just grabs the angel's other hand.

"Don't be such a baby," Dean chastises and wraps an arm around Castiel's waist. "Now, how about I show you what humans do when they start a relationship."


	16. 9

**This is based off my other story Church Channel. Where they're in an asylum and Castiel has DID, the next 7 chapters will be of each of the personalities.**

"I refuse to participate in this immoral Pagan festival."

"Then go upstairs," Dean rolled his eyes and plugged in the lights, the Christmas tree flickered to life, sparkling red and green. "No one's forcing you to be here."

"Well I'm certainly not leaving you here with all these demons," Castiel scoffed.

"I thought Jesus was 'the reason for the season'? Why do you have such a stick up your ass about all this?"

Castiel's eyes narrowed in the way they always did when Dean said something stupid. "I would like to point out that we are currently in Hell-"

"But-"

"And Satan is currently arranging the nativity scene." Luc looked up from where he was arranging the wise men by the manger and gave Castiel a sickly sweet smile. "I don't know why you think I would want any part of this."

Dean had learned that it's best not to ever argue with Castiel, he was much too set in his ways to ever concede that Dean might be right about something. "Well, at least the tree looks nice."

"Bringing trees inside is a Saturnalia ritual. And Pagans-"

"End up in Hell, yeah I know, you've said it like a billion time in the past hour." Castiel opened his mouth, probably to chastise Dean some more, but Dean held up his hand and silenced the 'angel'. "So I guess you don't want your present."

"Present?" Castiel asked slowly.

"Yeah," Dean smiled and curled his finger, motioning for Castiel to come closer. Cautiously Castiel stepped forward until both Dean and him were hidden behind the large tree. "Close your eyes."

Castiel gave him a hard look, as if deciding whether Dean should be trusted or not but slowly closed his eyes. Dean almost laughed at how tense Castiel looked, there probably wasn't another person alive who could make Castiel let his guard down. Dean leaned over and quick as lighting pecked a kiss on Castiel's cheek.

"What are you doing?" Castiel gasped, reeling back and nearly knocking the tree over.

Dean grabbed one of the branches to steady the tree and put a hand on Castiel's shoulder to prevent him from running off. Dean could tell from the panic in Castiel's eyes that he was seconds away from a meltdown. "That's how they greet friends in France."

"France?" Castiel asked, still suspicious and trying to pull away from Dean. Dean sighed because Castiel just didn't get the joke but then then the other man paused and shot Dean a strange look. "Friends?"

"Yeah," Dean said confusedly.

"We're…friends?"

"I thought we were," Dean told him, a little insulted.

"I've never had a friend before," Castiel said thoughtfully.

Dean felt the smile return to his face and he patted Castiel on the back. "Merry Christmas, Cas."

Castiel frowned and moved away from the glowing tree. "I'm still not celebrating Christmas."


	17. 8

**My internet was down the last few days :(. But it's back now so here are the three chapters!**

Leviathan stared down at the Santa hat in his hands and then grimaced at Dean. "Absolutely not."

"Live a little," Dean rolled his eyes and straightened the branch he'd ripped off the tree downstairs. "You're the one that complained about not being able to celebrate anything."

"But…Santa Claus?" Leviathan held the hat up by white pompom on top. "It's so…"

"Pagan?" Dean guesses.

"I was going to say childish," Leviathan clicked his tongue and tossed the hat at Dean. "I don't think it's really Christmas. "

"Why would I lie about Christmas?" Dean placed several paper ornaments on their make- shift tree.

"Everyone lies to me." Leviathan grabbed the star, the tiny wooden pendant with tack on the back that subbed for their star, and stuck it on the tip of the tree. "Why should you be any different?"

Dean grunted in annoyance, "can we have one day where you don't make everything depressing?"

"I suppose anything is possible."

"Here," Dean reached into the box he brought with him and pulled out a small newspaper wrapped present. "I brought you something."

"What is it?" Leviathan cautiously took it from Dean's hand.

"It's a Christmas present."

"Oh," Leviathan looked thoughtfully at Dean's gift and turned it over. "No one's ever…given me a gift before."

"Never?" Leviathan doesn't answer, he stuck his thumb under a loose piece of newspaper and ripped the package open. Bits of the wrapper fell to the floor till he had uncovered the beige book beneath it. Then Leviathan just stared down at the book like he had no idea what to make of it and Dean felt a nervous gnaw at his stomach. "Sorry, I don't have much right now- I'll take it back, ask Sam to bring something better."

Leviathan dropped the book to the floor and Dean sucked in a breath, expecting Leviathan to throw a tantrum over Dean's horrible gift giving. He seemed to be guessing right because Leviathan knocked him to the ground but the closes he came to biting him was when the other man gently nipped at Dean's lip. Leviathan presses their lips together and cups Dean's face between his cold hands, the kiss is soft, nothing like the hungry, manic way he's tried to kiss Dean before. When Dean's lungs started to burn, he carefully pushed Leviathan away and sucked in some much needed air. Leviathan panted and rested his forehead against Dean's, "I'll wear the stupid hat."


	18. 7

"This town is not suffering from some love-gone-wrong effect. It's suffering from hunger. Starvation, to be exact-Specifically...famine."

"Great. That's freaking great. I thought famine meant starvation, like as in, you know, food."

"Yes. Absolutely. But not just food. I mean, everyone seems to be starving for something-Sex, attention, drugs, love..."

"Well, that explains the puppy-lovers that Cupid shot up."

"Right. The cherub made them crave love, and then Famine came, and made them rabid for it."

"Okay, but what about you?" Castiel shifted awkwardly, his eyes dropped to the floor and he took a step back from Dean. "Cas?"

"Dean I-" Castiel shook his head and when he looked at Dean again his eyes were cloudy and dark. He surged forward and Dean stumbled back into the table, barely having enough time to shove his hand between them and stop the other man from kissing him.

"Whoa, _whoa_, what the hell Misha?"

"Jensen, you're ruining the scene!" Misha wined beneath Dean's hand. "We're supposed to kiss, I'm hungry for you."

"Bullshit." Dean shoved Misha back and the actor rolled his eyes at Dean's unprofessionalism. "That wasn't in the script I read."

Misha pulled a stack of papers from the inside of Castiel's trench coat, his eyes scanned the lines and as he flipped through the pages. "_Castiel looked at Dean seductively. Unable to deny his desire, the angel succumbed, he gave himself to the hunter and they sank into the throes of fiery passion_."

"Give me that!" Dean snapped and ripped the script out of Misha's hands and read the horrifying words himself. "_And then Castiel caressed Dean's clavicle. "This is wrong," said Dean. _

_"Then I don't want to be right," replied Castiel, in a husky voice._"

"I told you." Misha said smugly.

"What the hell is this? This is wrong on so many levels," Dean shivered and tossed the script into the trash much to Misha's grievance. "What were you thinking, Chuck?"

The writer shrunk back in his chair and held the master script up to hid behind. "I didn't know what else to get Becky for Christmas…So we co-wrote the script."

"This is disgusting."

"You should have seen the first draft," Misha said absently, picking the script of the garbage. "It was much more full of uh- brotherly love."

Dean glared at Becky and gave a nervous smile. "There's something wrong with you."

"Well," Misha coughed and patted Dean on the back, "sorry Jensen but you have a contract."

"There is no way I'm-" but Misha already planted his lips on top of Dean's, wrapping his arm around his waist and forcing him to dip down against the kiss.

"There, that wasn't so bad," Misha smiled smugly and wiped his lips on his shirt sleeve. Then as if nothing had just happened, he walked away; apparently he was done with script reading and was off to probably write another stalker letter to his make believe wife.

"I just…" Dean trailed off. "I just hate this place so much."


	19. 6

Jimmy was sitting at one of the dining room tables when Dean found him, early morning light just peaking in through the windows and coloured his skin gold. "Can't sleep?"

Jimmy looked up from the cookies in front of him and laid the icing gun down. "It's easier to get things done before the others are running around. What about you?"

Dean only shrugged and sat down across from Jimmy. He probably knew it was another nightmare but they had unspoken 'don't ask, don't tell' policy with the other patients. "So what are all these for?"

Jimmy picked up the icing gun again and twisted the nozzle over to another colour. "Gabriel."

A family of unfinished gingerbread people are laid out on the table, three girls and a boy, there's one un-iced cookie sitting off to the side. Jimmy must have made five cookies before he remembered that his cousin died a few months back. "I do this every year, I used to give it to my family but I don't think they get them anymore. I think Gabriel just takes them home and eats them."

Jimmy piped on four smiley faces, twisted the nozzle again and drew three blue dresses on the cookies. "You're pretty good at that."

Jimmy smiled at the compliment though Dean didn't think it had to be all that hard to decorate some sweets to look like people. "I've had a lot of practise."

Dean drummed his fingers on the table in boredom and watched Jimmy finish the cookie family. He sucked a drop of rogue icing of his finger but ended up smearing some on his edge of his lips. "You uh- you have something right…"

Dean tapped at the side of his mouth but Jimmy wiped the wrong side. A mischievous grin broke on Dean's face and he leaned across the table. "Here, let me."

Dean wrapped his hand up in Jimmy's shirt and planted a kiss just on the edge of his mouth. His tongue darted out, quickly liked the icing and sat back down. Jimmy's cheeks were lit up like the Christmas tree that glowed beside them and he icing gun slipped out of his hands and fell to the floor. "I-uh…um. T-thank you Dean."


	20. 5

"Emmanuel," Dean groaned. "Can we just not do this now?"

"Dean, this is important." Emmanuel tapped a pencil against his clipboard and gave a disappointed shake of his head at Dean. Currently Emmanuel was standing between Dean and the special Christmas dinner, a tray piled high with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and other things that had Dean's mouth water. Dean shot a look around the room where nearly everyone was staring, a few were laughing , some looked like they had experienced Emmanuel themselves once or twice and Luc was grinning smugly.

"Can't we do this after dinner?"

"You should have thought about dinner before you skipped your appointment," Emmanuel said, placing a hand on Dean's shoulder and pushing him back into the empty rec room. "You may eat when we're done."

"That's not going to happen," Dean grunted and tried to side step Emmanuel but the 'doctor' blocked each step. "Seriously?"

"Yes, this is _very_ serious."

"Look either you let me go eat, or I'll-" Dean paused to think of what he could possibly say that might get Emmanuel to back down. "Or I'll report you."

"Report me?" Emmanuel's eyebrows shot up. "Report me to whom?"

"The board of doctors of whatever."

Emmanuel let out a laugh. "And what exactly are you going to report me for? I haven't-"

Dean cut him off by slamming their lips together, noses squishing against the awkward kiss. It lasted only a few seconds before Dean pulled away, leaving Emmanuel with a flustered blush. "See? That was totally inappropriate."

"But- you- I didn't!" Emmanuel stuttered. Dean pushed past Emmanuel and back into the dining hall, the swinging door nearly swung back into the other man's face. "I'll just- see you tomorrow then."


	21. 4

For obvious reasons, God doesn't care much for Christmas, "Why would you want to celebrate the birth of an absent god?"

"Look, if you're not going eat the candy cane, just give it to me." Dean reached for the candy but it was yanked away.

"I didn't say I wouldn't eat it." The would be god studied the bent stick in his hand. "I just don't understand why you would give me this."

"I was just trying to be nice." Dean rolled his eyes and stretched out on the couch, kicking his feet up on the arm rest.

"This is a symbol of your old god."

"It's candy." Dean grabbed the TV remote and flicked on the TV. "Can we go ten minutes without getting into a fight?"

They slipped into silence and Dean thought the argument was over so he just watched the crappy sit-com and ignored the man that sat on the beat up chair. Then he hears a small crunch and Dean glanced over to the candy cane broken in half. "You're questioning my right to rule."

"What?"

"Dean," he bit out and knocked Dean's feet off the couch. "You clearly don't remember what it was like before. Being forgotten by someone who's supposed to care the most about you."

Dean sat up and made room for the other man, despite knowing it wasn't going to end well. "Look as far as shitty parents go, I think I had it much worse so-"

"I've spoiled you," he shook his head sadly and Dean resisted the urge to smack the stupid look off his face. "I've been far too lenient with you."

"Awesome, I love having this conversation," Dean stood up and dropped the remote on the rickety table. "I don't think we really settled the issue the first eight time."

"Wait," he called after Dean but at that point Dean had gone through seven days of crazy and he didn't want to put up with another moment. He barely made it to the stairs when he was tugged back, Dean turned ready to shout at the crazy man for all his annoying rambling. Instead there are fingers in his hair and a hand gripping his arm, a sloppy kiss is smacked down on his lips but quickly replaced with a gentle peck on his forehead. "Why is it so difficult to make you happy?"

"You can't just go around kissing people," Dean replied, feeling awkward having the other man pressed up against him in the only place in the entire hospital that wasn't crowded with security cameras.

He let out a tired laugh, "I'm god I can do anything I want."

"Yeah, well…" Dean shifted uncomfortably.

"You talk too much." He pulled away and let go of Dean. "You should just let me take care of you."

"I don't _need_ someone to take care of me," Dean stressed.

"I believe it's been well established you don't know what you need," he sighed tiredly. "Go upstairs, I'll bring you something to eat. "

Dean wanted to argue but he knew it would be pointless and he also knew that chances where pretty slim that 'God' was going to be around long enough to actually bring him up his dinner. So he nodded and waited till the other man left before he climbed up the stairs.

Sure enough a few hours later Castiel found him, complaining that the day went by too quickly. He doesn't have any dinner but they share a sugar cookie. Christmas isn't on a Sunday that year, so he doesn't get to see Sam but his brother left a few gifts with the nurses. He gets some old movies which means he'll finally have something to watch of their crappy TV and Gabriel got Castiel an ugly sweater that he'll never wear.

It was the best Christmas someone could have in a medium-security facility.


	22. 3

**So my computer is acting up again ;-; I apologize these are so late (Advent isn't even still happening) but I was unable to upload anything the past few days. My last one is written on paper so I'll type it up and post it ASAP :). It will be a prequel to my story Sixteen Will Get You Twenty so if you're looking for something to read on Christmas you could do that :p**

**Merry Christmas!**

Things aren't going well for Castiel.

After spending a few days in the motel room re realizes that the Winchesters are dead or have someone found a way to return to their time. Eventually he manages to walk around and confirm that Sam and Dean have disappeared. Which is great for them but Castiel still doesn't have the juice to bring himself back and he's sure there aren't any angels that are willing to help him.

But he doesn't have any other choice so he gives himself another day to rest before he bucks up and gives it his all.

He ends up crashing into a Christmas tree instead.

"Oh," a tiny voice gasps from somewhere in the room. Castiel's entire body feels like it's on fire and it hurts to move even just enough to turn and look at whoever is walking slowly over to him. He feels little hands push under his jaw and twist his head up to the left.

"Who are you?" Castiel coughs and squints his eyes at the blurry object in front of him. "Dean…?"

"Are you Santa?" The little boy whispers. Castiel looks past the boy to the advent calendar taped to the wall behind his head.

"It is not even Christmas yet, Dean." The young Dean drops the angel's head and it smashes down against the ground again.

"If you're not Santa, how do you know my name?" Dean asks suspiciously. Castiel groans and attempts to push himself up.

"I'm an angel," Castiel wheezes. His arms give out and he falls back down, crushing a present beneath his arm.

"Whoa, I got an angel for Christmas!" Dean grins. He patters off somewhere out of Castiel's view and Castiel is struck by how cheerful this little Dean is, a short time before his mother's death. Castiel staggers to his feet, barely makes it to the couch before he collapses again, his bones aching in protest. Dean comes back, carrying a plate of cookies and handing it to Castiel. "I was saving these for Santa but I think you're much cooler."

"I don't need to eat," he tells the boy but takes one of the small cookies anyways. He is suddenly hit with the urge to warn Dean how different his life is going to be by next Christmas. He knows it won't change anything, just as Dean's warning to Mary didn't change anything, but the poor boy just looks so joyful right now. "Thank you, Dean."

"You're welcome," Dean smiles, his _L_'s so soft that they're barely there.

"These are very good," Castiel tells him even though the pastries are a little burnt and too buttery. "Will you get me something to drink?"

Dean nods eagerly and runs back off to the kitchen. Castiel gives himself a moment to look around the happy home, there are pictures of Dean and his parents on the mantle, they look happy in a way Castiel has never seen a Winchester. It be nice to stay but he's already wasted too much time and there's an apocalypse going on back in his time. He leaves his half eaten cookie on the coffee table, he's gone by the time Dean returns with the milk.


	23. 2

"Lock the doors, lock the windows, don't open the door for anyone but you, look out for Sammy," Dean repeats.

"I'll be back in a few days." John finishes packing the guns away and leaves one by the front door for Dean. "I'll uh- bring some presents with me."

"Yes, sir." Dean knows he won't.

John leaves without saying goodbye. As soon as the door clicks shut Dean dashes off to the motel's bed room and slides next to the bed. Sam, who was only pretending to be asleep looks over the edge of the bed and watches Dean slip a hand under the bed. "You can come out now, he's gone."

Castiel crawls out from under the bed and shakes his wings to get rid of the dirt his wings had dusted off the bed. "I don't think I can hide from your much longer."

"Sorry, Cas." Sam climbs down off the bed and smiles at the angel.

"I'll tell him. Just, when he's in a better mood…"Dean trails off and the other two boys nod understandably, even though Sam knows that day will probably never come. "But Dad left some decorations!"

Sam brightens up and runs over to the small box next to the pathetic tree they had. Dean is sure it is actually just the top of another Christmas tree that got chopped off to fit inside someone's house. But it's the first tree they've had since mom died. Sam puts all the decorations on by himself, there wasn't that many to begin with anyways. The tiny tree bends beneath the weight of the shiny ornaments and Dean cracks open a can of tuna for the three of them. They offer some to Castiel who taste a small bit, makes a face and refuses to eat any more, like he does every time they try to get him to eat.

Dean really has no idea how he's going to convince his dad that Castiel's okay, his dad only see's humans and monsters and it doesn't matter that Castiel is the only friend Dean's ever really had. His dad hasn't been around much, so he'd only have to hide Castiel for a few days at a time and have week's in-between where they were safe.

"You look troubled, Dean." Castiel always talked a little funny but the more time he spends with Dean and Sam the more he sounds like a regular little boy. Still it makes Dean smile when he tilts his head and blinks in confusion.

"It's nothing, Cas." Dean pats Castiel on the back and hands Sam the tuna can. "Hey, you ever make a snow angel before?"

"Snow angels?" Castiel crinkles his nose the way it always does when Dean talks about angels. Castiel used to correct him but now he shakes his head and ignored it. "No, I've only been on earth for a week or so."

"Well, they're pretty fun." Dean stands up and goes to get Sammy some socks to go outside in. "And I think you will make the best ones, you already have wings!"

"I really shouldn't get them wet…" Castiel runs his hand through the feathers on his left wing and looks at the falling snow wearily. "They get poufy then."

Dean puts Sam in his lap and pulls his socks on, doubling up because he doesn't have winter boots, and then shoves his arms inside his coat. "It's just the three of us, who cares if you look goofy."

It turns out that Castiel wasn't joking about the puffiness. When they get back in, all soaking wet from the sludge that had passed as snow, Sam and Dean offer to help dry Castiel's wings and the angel very reluctantly agrees. They rub scratchy motel towels over the wet feathers and Castiel tries not to burst into laughter at the weird feeling. The once tiny wings balloon up to twice their size, two giant balls of fluff that look absolutely ridiculous. Sam laughs at the angel, Castiel huffs and tries to draw his wings around his body but the messy feathers tickle his face. "I _told_ you this would happen. I refuse to be used as an object for your amusement."

"Don't be such a nerd." Dean ruffles Castiel's feathers and tugs on Sam's sleeve to guide him to bed. "They don't look that bad."

"We are never doing that again," Castiel decides.

"It would be better if we had real snow," Sam tells him.

"Come on, little brother." Dean pulls back the covers and ushers Sam beneath them. "It's way past your bed time."

"Can't I stay up just a little longer?" Sam gives his best puppy dog eyes and when Dean shakes his head he looks at Castiel instead. "Do I have to go to bed?"

Castiel gives him a blank stare and purses his lips, trying to think up an answer. "Well, if you think you're old enough to stay awake…"

"Castiel!" Dean snaps when Sam's face brightens up.

"Of course you would risk being put on Santa Claus's naughty list." Sam instantly pales and pulls the covers up over his body, burying his face in the pillow and squeezing his eyes shut. "Good night, Sam."

The little boy doesn't reply, trying to fall asleep as fast as possible and the other two boys go back out into the tiny living room. Dean flops down on the lumpy couch and smiles at Castiel. "I didn't think angel would get visits from Santa too."

"We don't, I just hear you talking about him." Castiel sits down next to Dean and pauses before continuing. "You are aware that Santa Claus is not real, right?"

"Sh, Sammy might hear you," Dean shushes. Castiel gives him a light smile and the boy stretches out a yawns. "Been a long day."

"You should sleep," Castiel tells him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "I will watch over you and Sam."

Dean nods mutely and lays his head on the arm of the couch. It's nice having Castiel around just for the fact that Dean doesn't always have to constantly be watching over his brother. He knows it's still his responsibility but before Castiel he'd be up all night and miserable, at least now he gets some sleep and he doesn't feel so alone.

There's no angel on the top of their tree but there's one on the couch and that's good enough for Dean.


End file.
